Hey, it's New Year's Eve!

And here I sit. How pathetic is that?

I thought this cartoon was somewhat fitting...

(If it isn't readable, click it for full size)

The Sunday Morning Report

Okay, it's not much of a report--Sue me.

You know what's funny? Time and time again people have said how the tiniest little thing can bring the biggest thing down. There have been countless anecdotes, tales, and legends of instances where that has taken place. They'll say how a multi-million dollar NASCAR race can be lost by the failure of a 5-cent part. Well, it's true.

I recently explained how our high-speed press at work had finished it's job--How it's "day in the sun" had finally come to an end. Well, after all the products it makes had been washed and packaged, we were able to get an exact count on things and we determined that we needed to fire up the press again and run out just three more coils worth of raw material through it (about 120,000 parts). That's fine--We had until February to get them out, so it was something I could use as "space filler" when I had nothing else to do. Well, Friday I got the whole thing all set up to go. Material loaded and advanced all the way to the end of the press to where finished parts were visible at the exit of the die. All this is done at "inch mode" which means each time you press the buttons it cycles through. I was ready to go on full automatic, but before I did I had to set up the test fixture. We can't just run parts without knowing that they are within specifications right? We have to continually monitor them as the press is running by snagging a couple of them out of the exit chute every few minutes and clamping them into the test fixture.

The test fixture is comprised of five exact-placed dial indicators that read off the measurements of a freshly-manufactured part that we clamp into it. Before we can do that however, the gauges have to be set at nominal zero. To do that we have an exact-measurement block that has been made for that purpose that we clamp into place, then zero each gauge while that block is in place.

The block was gone.

We looked everywhere for it. There is no way it would have walked off on its own, and it would not have been used for any other purpose. After several hours of looking, we determined that the former operator of the press who was let go a few weeks back must have had something to do with it. While I'm sure he didn't steal it, it would have been very easy for him to just casually walk by any metal recycle bin or trash can in the building and drop it in. The bottom line: Without that block we can't run parts. After we gave up on ever finding it, we instead dug through CAD drawings for it. Now we've got our tooling guys painstakingly making us another one. And all that for only 3 coils of material (translation: About 6 hours of total run time). Oh well, at least we've got lots of time.

I took Teresa and Sarah out yesterday to exchange a couple shirts that Sarah bought me for Christmas. Sure, I know Teresa actually bought them, but Sarah picked them out. They are both of the heavyweight "outerwear" variety--One of them with a quilted lining and the other not. Both were size large instead of medium. Rather than me trying to exchange them with no receipt, I offered to drive them around to the right stores and get them exchanged. That also afforded me the opportunity to select colors that I liked. Win-win eh? After we got back to town I bought us all some burgers for lunch, and then delivered them back to their house. The rest of my day was spent not doing much. I did go out and do some troubleshooting on my truck again. I have determined that I have a major electrical problem somewhere--Most probably at a plug. I just have to find it.

It's been stormy as hell all night, and today will probably be more of the same. That's okay--I need to get some laundry and vacuuming done.

Yeah, today will be a good day to just stay in and put on my french maid apron...

Announcing: A New Blog Feature!

First of all, Happy Friday!

I only get a standard weekend this time--No Monday off. It will be weird working Monday then getting Tuesday off, but it should make the week go by fairly easily.

Okay, let's get right to the new blog feature. Blogger has offered this feature since way back when but I never took advantage of it. What is it? It's the ability to attach one or more "labels" to each post I make.

So what does that mean?

It didn't mean much to me at first, but as the blog went on and got longer and longer I could see some benefit. Not really to me, but to you--The reader. If you look over to the right in the menu column under "Post Labels", you'll see the categories I have my blog entries under. These are categories I have at this time--I can add any new ones as my blog entry content dictates. I actually took the time to attach labels to each post I have made in this blog up to now, and that in itself was not an easy task. Now I just have to do each new entry as I make it, and that's easy.

What good is it?

For example, if you enjoy my ability to tell a story in rhyme (my favorite entries), you can look over and click on "poetry" and it will list all the blog entries I have under that category.

Anyway, it's just something I finally started doing and thought I'd pass it on.

Another Age Thing?

I hate to think I may have to give up chili, but something is different now. I don't know exactly how long it's been this way, but noticed something about myself (my body specifically) last night after I chowed down on chili for dinner.

I know most people's first thought goes right to gas and flatulence, but that's not it. No, actually I don't have a problem with that at all. Okay... Everyone around me might, but I don't. No, that's not it at all.

I eat plain ol' Nalley's Chili con Carne with beans. I eat the regular "hot" variety (not shown on their website), not the jalapeno hot variety (that's just painful). I usually add just a tad bit of additional red pepper flakes in it while it's cooking, but not always. Sometimes I add some chopped onions in it, but not always. Sometimes I add some diced tomatoes to it, but again... Not always. Another thing I'll do occasionally is add some shredded cheese like I did last night. This time it happened to be Cojack cheese, but that's really not important.

What happened? Well, shortly after eating it, I was practically asleep. I say practically, because I was really moving slow and drowsy. It was all I could do to stay awake. Not long after that I got an upset stomach. It didn't get real bad, but neither did it go away on its own. I ended up using Alka Seltzer to squash that (which it did fine). It occurred to me when I was getting my Alka Seltzer that I only had one pack left in the box. Then I thought about it and it occurred to me that I had probably used most of the previous ones in the package on the post episodes of The Chili Blues as well.

Thinking hard about it, I could say with almost absolute certainty that the same thing has happened probably the last half a dozen times after I had eaten chili. Each time may have had a different thing added to it or not, I don't know--I usually don't do it exactly the same way every time. The only thing that I always do the same is that I eat the crackers and chili bite for bite. That translates to at least a complete package (sleeve) of crackers by the time the chili is finished.

There is something here that isn't agreeing with me any more I guess, but I didn't really see it. Either I'm eating too much total, too many crackers, or shouldn't be eating one or the other any more at all. Now that I think of it, I eat that many crackers when I eat soup too. I also get very tired after that, but I don't get an upset stomach.

I told Elaine about it at work today, and she said maybe it was too spicy, but I was quick to point out that my chili really isn't that spicy. I eat lots of things much more spicy than that with no odd effects. Then she suggested something odd: Adding a little vinegar to it while cooking. She said just a little bit, like a cap full. Hell, I dunno... I'll give it a shot next time. Who knows.

I just don't want to hear that it's an age-related thing again. Something like my body has changed and I can no longer eat a particular food I've eaten all my life? I wouldn't be surprised if that doesn't happen to me at some point in my life, but I sure hope it's not something that I love. Maybe it's just a metabolism thing and I just need to tone it down somewhat. Hell, maybe it's only the crackers. Oh man, but I love saltine crackers too!

One thing is for sure: I've lasted most of my 51 years with a "cast-iron stomach" and have enjoyed the hell out of it. I could eat anything and eat lots of it too. I guess it's time to start keeping a logbook or something so I can figure it out.

Dammit.

Christmas is in the Rear View Mirror

I am so glad that it's behind us.

It's not the same as it used to be, you know? Sure, there are always "feelgood moments" here and there, but never the same sort of magical feeling it was when we were young. I find the whole thing very tedious nowadays. When I was young, my favorite part of Christmas was opening my presents. When I got older and had a daughter, my favorite part of Christmas was watching her opening presents--Experiencing the excitement through her eyes. Now my favorite part of Christmas is when it finally ends. I don't mean to be cynical or anything really--I'm just being honest. I really like many parts of Christmas, but I really love for it to be over.

I had a pretty good Christmas this year I guess. I didn't have any emotional meltdowns or anything, and I managed to get everything done. Any shopping excursions I made out into the wilds of Malldom and such went smoothly. No screaming at idiots in their cars or mumbling about surly checkout people in stores. Basically, the traffic (both automobile and human) failed to rile me up or ruin my outings. That's always good.

Sarah stayed overnight on Saturday night, and Teresa dropped her off with some boxes and wrapping stuff as well. We spent the evening watching a movie, and both of us ended up going to bed at about 10:30. When we got up Sunday we went out and did some more shopping, then ended up spending the rest of the afternoon wrapping her mom's presents. We planned on getting the gingerbread house put together too, but that just didn't quite pan out. Oh well, no hurry. We had already determined that if we couldn't get to it we'd still get it done whichever day because it was a "season" thing just as much as it was a Christmas thing. We'll get it done one day this week or weekend I'm sure. It's more of an arts & crafts project really and we both have fun doing it.

I liked having Christmas fall on Tuesday this year. It made the final shopping weekend much less stressful knowing there was still a Monday to pick up any slack. By the time Monday rolled around, all I needed were a few food items. It was good to have Monday off even if it was unpaid. Anyway, after I took care of those little shopping things, I blew the dust off my Harley and fired it up.

It was a great way to spend some time and let off some steam. I hadn't been able to ride in over two weeks due to heavy rain and scheduling, so to finally get out on it was great. Monday was great weather here and just screamed for me to go riding. I didn't go far, but was out about an hour tooling around. I think my favorite moment came when I ran a stretch of road between Auburn and Pacific at 95 mph. It felt good to have to hang on to the bars with a death grip while the wind tried to rip me out of the saddle (remember, I have no windshield on it). It was just what I needed to get the blood pumping correctly.

My Christmas eve was a quiet and somewhat lonely affair. No noise, no visitors, no nothing. It was relaxing and pathetic at the same time. One part of me wanted badly to be out there somewhere, celebrating with friends, but another part of me kept saying, "Stay home and relax... It's an act of desperation to invite yourself to people's houses when they are trying to get their own Christmas in order.

Christmas morning started out with me going over to Teresa & Sarah's house at 7:30. I cracked a bottle of champagne and we all opened presents. Sarah really got a lot of stuff as usual. I was a little surprised when I walked in there and saw how many presents were around the tree. She got a lot of nice stuff--No doubt about it. She liked her new laptop, and I'm sure she was a plenty surprised to get that. She never really does get very excited about stuff though, so it's sometimes hard to tell just how excited she really is. After I ate breakfast we all watched The Santa Clause then Sarah and I went over to my parents house to continue Christmas. I guess you would call that "phase II".

We went a little earlier than I usually do because my sister's family wasn't planning on being there all that long and Sarah wanted to give her cousin Emma her picture that we made. They actually did end up staying a while so we all had a good visit. My dad was fairly tolerable throughout the day and that helped too. About the time my sister's family was getting ready to leave, my brother and his family (Sarah's other cousin Cassady is their only daughter) came over. Shortly thereafter we all ate a pretty good ham dinner. My brother's wife Kim and I were drinking wine pretty much the whole time. We both find it easier to tolerate my dad when we imbibe...

Sarah and I left there at about 5:30 and went over to Kurt & Noelle's house, which is where Teresa was spending her day. I stopped by my house and grabbed my vodka and cranberry juice, and a couple cans of nuts to munch on too. I stayed until about 8:30, during which we all had a pretty good time playing video games and stuff. They have two tv's going with video games, one of which had a dance mat thing on the floor that you have to follow moves onscreen. It's hard to describe, but it was fun. They're great folks. When I crashed at 9:30, I was fairly buzzed, and just like I figured, I was hung over this morning.

Serves me right...

The Seasonal Lament of a Partier Gone

It's not the same as it used to be;
times and people change.
I'd like to think it's not just me
whose life has rearranged.

Every weekend I could find
a party to attend;
a time to revel and unwind
from the week at work I'd spend.

But as we paired and found our mates
the parties became rare.
Our schedules never had blank dates
and we had no time to spare.

The parties did sometimes take place
but never like they were.
They had a more relaxing pace,
but at least they'd still occur.

Time and change can take its toll;
some marriages come undone,
and couples that are no longer whole
the hosts will almost shun.

It's a terribly hard job for a host
to have to pick and choose.
Which of the two do they like the most
or should they just invite them both for booze?

When parties are fewer,
and as we all age and change;
I sometimes feel bluer,
and distanced, and strange.

It's worse during holidays;
things are hectic as hell,
and I need badly to find ways
to socialize for a spell.

I could step up and be the one
and have a party here,
but even though I want some fun
too many "can't" appear.

I guess it's just the way things go
nothing stays the same.
I'll just tell my tale of woe
in this poem it became.

Ricky

The Last Work Day Before Christmas

I'm sure everyone at work will be in good spirits today. We get the next 4 days off, but unfortunately not paid for Monday. I'm sure that we will be moderately busy today as well, but that's mainly because it's Friday and a lot of things happen on Fridays.

Today is the day we get our Christmas "bonus" (maybe that should read "bone us"). The last couple years it was a ham. I believe we got a Black Forest ham last year and a smaller spiral one maybe the year before that. I don't remember exactly. The first year I was there it was one of those blue metal tins full of naked, Scandinavian cookies. The year after that it was some sort of chocolate-dipped cookies. Who knows what this year might bring. It has been a good year for the company, but that doesn't mean shit when it comes to such things.

I also didn't have to make my usual sandwich for lunch today. The top several guys in the shop (i.e. "upper pay scale") got together and is ordering us all pizza from Papa John's. Now get this--The only way that the co-owners of the shop will let them do that (yes, believe it or not they have to clear such things through them first) is if they tell them that everyone in the shop got together and paid for it themselves. There is no way they would agree to them just buying us lunch out of their pockets as a gift. Why? Because it would make them (the co-owners) look bad. Isn't that a kick?

Sue, our office administrator, came over on the way home from work last night, and surprisingly, stayed until after 9:30! She and I are both divorced and both the same age and have lots to talk about. She and I are different in many ways and would probably never "fit" together, but I really like her a lot and I treasure the friendship we have. Someone at work told me one time a few years ago that I was the only one she ever freely talked to. I responded by saying maybe it's because I actually talk to her? She is a very focused lady and has a lot on her mind, and people probably have a tendency to perceive her as somewhat cold, but I don't. I can "see" people. Anyway, we've developed a friendship over the years. She will occasionally ask me about some sort of software app that she just found out about, and I'll track it down for her (I'm her software pirate). That was the main reason she stopped by last night was to pick one of those up. For all I know, she may have wanted to stop by and visit other times in the past but didn't have the right reason. She is a single woman after all, and needs a certain amount of caution when it comes to such things. We had a great visit last night though. Had I known she would have stayed that long I would have fed us more than just nachos and beer though! We talked and talked enough that I didn't even remember until I was going to bed that I still had clothes in the dryer. Oh well. Note to self: Turn on the dryer when you get home and touch em up.

Today is my "dress-up day" at work. Myself and Elaine are the only ones usually. She has her blinking LED reindeer antlers that she wears (she calls it "flashing her rack"). I have my Christmas Harley shirt and my Santa hat, both of which are currently adorning my mannequin bitch in the entry. It will be kind of weird to strip my mannequin so I can get dressed for work...

Sarah will be staying overnight tomorrow night. I hope we can get some stuff done. We need shopping, wrapping, and stuff like that to get done, and we also need to co-build our annual gingerbread house. It's a kit, but we like to embellish the existing kit with other cool stuff. You know how it is--They can always use improvements.

Looks pretty durn cold out there this morning. I wouldn't mind riding the Harley today, but that wouldn't be too practical. I need to shop for some stuff on the way home. I think I'm just having riding withdrawals. I hope to get some riding in during my upcoming 4-day weekend!

I Love Sneezing!

Yep. The last thing you'll ever see me do is stifle a sneeze. The only one reason I would ever do something like that is if I have a mouthful of food or drink. Obviously that would not be pretty...

To me, sneezing is almost like an orgasm. But it's like an orgasm that you can do any place, any time... And people will even bless you for it! At least with a sneeze I can have a multiple of something. I guess I should feel lucky that I usually sneeze in twos. On a rare occasion I may get three or even more. That's like winning the sneeze lottery! My mom said the day I left the hospital after being born I sneezed two times the instant the sunlight hit my face. That still happens.

Sometimes I'll find myself with a little bit of a tickle in my nose and I'll finesse it--Inducing it into a sneeze by using the perfect velocity of breathing to get to the trigger point. For those of you that have ever played in band in school, it's very similar to a reed instrument like a clarinet or saxophone (which I played, but that's strictly coincidence). The air you blow into the mouthpiece makes the reed vibrate and it produces sound. In my case however, the "reed" gives me a nasal orgasm.

Sometimes the split second during a good sneeze may be the best you'll feel all day long!

There can, however, occasionally be a downside to a good sneeze. The obvious one that comes to mind would be those times when you can't quite get to that handkerchief or Kleenex in time. Especially if you're sick.

Another downside of sneezing is simply where the sneeze occurs. What you're doing, or the company you're in at the time of a sneeze can really alter the natural course of events that might have taken place had the sneeze(s) never occurred. You know what I mean... Job interview, first date, gynecologist exam, --The list goes on and on.

The real downside of a sneeze is a sneezed-caused trauma--When you actually hurt yourself in some way. I can remember one time when I sneezed while I was walking and hurt myself. As I recall I had a big sneeze just when I was stepping off a curb, and that resulted in a pulled back/side muscle. I'm serious. I think it hurt me for a few days. The more common sneeze trauma may sound more weird (which pretty much fits me doesn't it?) but really is much more common. That is when your tongue ends up getting a "nip" from your teeth during a good sneeze. I think it's like your tongue kind of ricochets and ends up in the bite zone at just the wrong instant. You have to admit, a sneeze can only be voluntary up to a point, and after that there's no telling what kind of contraction or chain reaction you might set loose. I've heard stories of some people peeing their pants (or even worse) during a good sneeze.

You know one thing that I find awkward about sneezing? The official "blessing of the sneeze" that you're supposed to administer when someone sneezes. I'm not religious at all, so my only choice really is to say gesundheit. What should a person say in that instance? Sometimes I say something like "whoa!" and sometimes I just let it go.

Yep, I really like sneezing.

The Sands of Time Are Flowing

Yes, it's Tuesday... One week from Christmas. Have you covered shopping for all your Christmas presents yet?

I'm so frustrated this time of year. I think it's partly due to the fact that I can almost hear the individual grains of sand falling through the hourglass... Mocking me... Wagging their finger at me for waiting so long to do something that shouldn't be a "chore" to begin with.

It's also partly because I have always prided myself on being a good shopper. I'm going to have to surrender that title I guess. The simple fact is when you don't know somebody you can't shop for them. The bad thing is who I'm talking about: My parents. Isn't that sad when you don't know your parents and you only live a 5-minute walk from them. It's true. I have no idea what they want or need, or like or dislike. I concede. Rhon, you told me that eventually I would cross over to the dark side and would know the ease and joy of a (gasp!) gift card. I concede. You were right. I think I will just buy them a bottle of wine (for mom) and put a Winco Foods gift card on it. It still feels like a cop-out though...

Debbie came over Friday night and picked up her computer. It's much better off than it was before, but still running slow. All of it's troubles have been fixed, but it's still badly in need of more RAM to speed the poor thing up. We had a great visit, and as usual hated to see her leave.

I spent most of Saturday not feeling well. I'm not sure why, but I was definitely substandard in the health category. I did manage to go out grocery shopping and then to a couple of stores, but really didn't get much of anything done other than that.

I felt much better Sunday. My brother called and asked me if I'd go help him pick up a truck that he had bought from somebody he knows through work. It seems that some reclusive alcoholic relative of a coworker had recently died and left his 2001 (I think) Chevy S-10 4x4 extended cab pickup behind. It's a really nice looking truck! It hadn't been driven in a few years because he had gotten a DUI so it had a few issues to get it started. After we played with it for a while and aired up the flat tires we got it running fine. It turns out that he only paid $1700 for it! I was going to say, "Why can't I ever find a deal like that?" but the truth is, I have made deals like that in the past. The trouble is, I could really use one right now. Anyway, I drove it home while he followed in his Jeep. It may end up being his daughter's ride, but he didn't say. She just turned 16 last month. Although she doesn't have her license yet, I'm sure she will soon.

I spent the majority of the rest of the day with Sarah's new laptop. First I had to unload all the crap that Dell installs on them that they think you need, then I loaded real software on it for her. I hunted down a good background wallpaper for it and customized it with her name and installed that too:


I loaded all the expensive stuff that she needs for graphic design too. You know, stuff that I "just happened to have" (nudge, nudge, wink, wink) like Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, and Indesign. I wanted to finish it up last night and get it wrapped back up, but spent almost two hours on the phone with a chatty old friend from South Dakota. Maybe I'll get it done tonight. I hope so...

Can you hear the grains of sand falling?

Ramblings of a Weird Man

Sometimes I wonder about me. It can't all be age-related can it?

Last night I was sitting here right before bed, and I was idly rubbing the top of my head while reading something online. After a few seconds it occurred to me that there was something "different" up there. I went to the bathroom and looked into the mirror, but realized that I couldn't see quite up high enough to see what it was. (Not having someone to confer with is one of the downfalls of living alone.) I browsed around the house for another mirror to double up with and finally managed to see the area in question.

There up on top of my head was what appeared to be a wound about an inch and a half long, with a slight bump to go with it. Not a real fresh one either.

WTF?

Don't you think I would remember banging my head into something? Well I don't. Try as I might, I can not remember hitting my head on anything at all in recent memory. I don't usually get drunk enough to fall down, or worse yet, drunk enough to not remember events that transpire. Does that mean I'm sleep walking? Or worse yet, "clumsy, klutzy, bump-into-shit" sleep walking?

Obviously I did something at some point, so that probably means one of the following things:

• My pain tolerance is so great (aka: tough guy) that I didn't notice whatever it was when it happened.
• My short term memory is so far gone that I immediately forgot it.
• My mind considered it traumatic in some way and automatically blocked it.
• Someone has a voodoo doll of me.

Nobody told me that I would spontaneously start to sprout mysterious wounds when I went past the age of 50...

Maybe it's a secret thing... Like only seniors know? Maybe it will be like the dawn of the dead and crowds of seniors with blank stares will suddenly surround and embrace me, droning, "Welcome, Rick... We've been waiting for you..."

God that's creepy...

The End of an Era

Yes, a major, major change is underway at work. Something I have been directly involved in since day one of my employment in May of 2002.

Let's go back to the beginning.

The day I was hired was a hot day. I was a week or two shy of turning 47 years old and having just come out of 4 years at a Boeing desk job was not in great shape. They put me right into shipping and receiving. Translation: Packing boxes. I didn't know anything about the sheer numbers of product I would pack, nor did I even know what the items I was packing were. All I know is I packed a lot of them. What they were, in fact, were parts for Sonicare toothbrushes. Unbeknownst to me, I had walked right into the La Croix Industries' fastest moving, most furious, nonstop, never-ending account. One that took priority over almost everything else they made at that time. I had to work like I have never worked before. I worked my ass off to keep up.

To put it in perspective, almost every week we shipped 5 pallets of "short arms", 1-2 pallets of "long arms", and 5 pallets of "channels." What does that mean in numbers? Well, each box of short arms was 23 lbs. and contained 1000 parts. Each box of long arms weighed in at 27 lbs. and also contained 1000 parts. The channels were the ones that kicked my ass--Each box weighed 35 lbs. and contained 1500 parts. A full pallet of each kind of the arms contained 75 cases and the channel pallets contained 67 cases. That means on a weekly basis we were shipping 375000 short arms, 75000 long arms, and 502,500 channels!

That's a lot of packing! Hell, that's a lot of everything; Manufacturing, washing, packing, shipping... That explains why I lost over 25 lbs during the first two months I was employed. I kicked ass. I found something within me that I previously had never felt or known. I had pride in my job and I put everything I could into it. In addition to doing all that packing, I was also the delivery guy, and also unloaded and loaded trucks when they came in. I had a full plate! I worked nonstop all day long and many times had to do overtime as well just to make it all work. My work ethic had come from somewhere deep and had previously been hiding I guess. Fortunately, it was noticed--I received 3 raises during those first two years, and never asked for any of them.

After those two years of packing, I was moved. A few folks noticed that I possessed an intelligence level and mechanical aptitude that was above most of the employees there (it wasn't so much me as it was the other employees) and promoted me to operating the high-speed press that makes those arms and channels. It was not a position to be taken lightly, nor a position that was offered to just anyone. That Bruderer high-speed press was their baby--Their pride and joy. Whenever they had visitors or potential customers that they showed their facility to, it was the Bruderer press they were most proud of.

In the last year or so, I was bumped up once more to the "lead" to the press. That put Bruce as the supervisor, me as the lead, and we had a new guy as the operator. Things were moving way slower than they ever had, but were still fairly constant.

Well, all good things got to come to an end.

Little by little, the Philips company (owners of Sonicare toothbrushes) have been ordering less and less of the parts. The original "flagship" design toothbrush has been replaced by a newer design--One not manufactured by our company.

Last summer Bruce saw the end of the line before anyone else. See, whenever we have to order replacement bits and pieces for the tooling that makes the parts, we have to get an okay from the Philips company because they actually own the tooling that the press uses to make the parts with. Last August when Bruce called to get an okay on some replacements, the guy on the other end of the phone said, "Do you think you could get by on 2 instead of 4 of those?" After a little Q&A, Bruce determined that they were planning on phasing that entire product line out during the first quarter of 2008.

Imagine the owner's shock. When Bruce told Phil the rumor minutes later, he said he saw the color drain from his face. This was money rolling into the company that they could always count on. They used to call the Bruderer "what kept the lights and heat on".

Recently (maybe a month ago), we received the schedule that contained the last shipment. It was due on in the first week of February 2008. Last week Bruce did an inventory of parts that we had on the shop floor (some packaged, some not) and walked up to me with the news.

"Shut the press down. It's over. We've got our orders filled."

What does that mean to us? Not sure. Our company has shifted it's focus quite a lot to machined aerospace parts so it's not the end of the world by any means. What is troubling though is how much material we have left. We have to order the coils of stainless steel from the supplier in the Midwest quite a ways in advance. We now have a lot of material standing around. I'm sure they're going to try to get Philips to pay for them. We'll see. What will we do with the Bruderer press? Well, because it's a high-speed press we can't put just any tooling in there without tearing the tooling apart, but I'm sure they'll be able to use it for something. At least over the years it's paid for itself. I've been occupying my time the last several days with inventorying all the tooling parts we have on hand to give to Philips, because as I said before, they own the tooling.

Yep, it's truly the end of an era.

What a Busy Week!

I haven't made a blog post in what feels like ages, and there are so many things to write about I don't know where to begin.

I'm still not doing well with my Christmas shopping. I feel very, very nervous about that. Time is too short and it's getting shorter. Add to that the fact that I need to get one (that I don't have yet) in the mail to make it to Los Angeles before Christmas and still need to get my Christmas cards out. I hate this feeling, but it's all too familiar. If I knew what I was going to buy everyone there would never be a problem...

I was out yesterday at Fred Meyer and bought myself a present: Flannel sheets! I've never had them before. They had them marked down 40% off, so my set ended up costing me $23 for a queen size... That's cheap! I tried em out last night. Although I like the smooth feel (the feeling that makes you want to move your legs all around when you first get in) of clean regular sheets, the flannel sheets certainly were cozy!

I also bought a gingerbread house this last week while I was there. I learned my lesson last year. You go in the store one day and there is a huge floor display of the kits, and a week later they're all sold out. I bought this one on Wednesday and already the huge pile is halfway gone. Making a gingerbread house is something Sarah and I like to do every year.

Also on Wednesday Debbie brought her computer down. It's one of those deals where it's so ridden with bugs and crap that it hardly works. I'm doing major housecleaning on it (at my leisure of course). The trouble with doing that is that time has a tendency to get away from me, and I can't afford that this time of year. When I get this one done and out of the way it will be Rhon's turn. She should have been first, but being so far away it just wasn't convenient. It will happen though. Promise.

Friday an unusual thing happened. I have a dear friend named Cheryl that I've known for years via Yahoo chat. She lives just outside of town here with her husband and menagerie of critters. She text messaged me to come and join her and a few coworkers for drinks. When I drove up there I found most of her coworkers already gone (they had been drinking for a couple hours at that point) and Cheryl was feeling no pain. I stayed for a couple beers, during which time her last remaining coworker made me promise to take Cheryl's keys from her before she left, as she was almost on her lips at that point. It seems that Cheryl's marriage has been on the slow slide of death for some time, and Friday morning she left her husband a 3-page, carefully thought out letter when she went to work. It wasn't a letter of demands (she let me read it), rather, a thoughtful letter of resignation. She carefully explained her feelings and everything and did a very nice job of it. Anyway, she was in no shape to go home. Had I delivered her to her home, the fact that she was drunk would have not helped her at all. It would have just been a one-sided bloodbath with massive screaming more than likely. She came home with me and I poured her into bed. The poor dear could hardly walk even with me holding her up. She slept until noon the next day at which point I drove her back up to get her car. She was nervous about facing her husband, but fairly confident at the same time. I told her to just calmly explain that she will only be staying home until she finds her own place, and during that time she will have her space and he will have his. I still haven't heard from her at this point, so evidently she did okay or she probably would have got hold of me for emergency lodging.

It's been a long time coming, but she finally acted. She's a strong woman and I'm confident she will be fine. After all, she has years ahead of her... No sense in wasting them.

There is still more to report, but I'm outta time.

So Many Things Look Alien

This has popped into my mind several times over the years. I know it's happened to everyone--When you look at something and it seems so... Weird?

So unusual? So out-of-place? So odd? So alien?

• One of the first things I can remember making this association with was when I was shopping in a grocery store. It happens when you are at the checkout counter and you're watching what the person ahead of you is putting up on the conveyor belt. Look at all of that stuff... Chances are if you're like me you'll look at it and agree--Everything they are buying is so weird! You think to yourself:
  
  "Oh my god, look at that weird shit... I would never eat that."
  "Wow, I don't know what they're going to do with something like that."
  "That is such a shitty tasting brand--I would never buy that."
  
  And it goes on and on. Try it... Next time you're in a grocery store do a casual glance in everyones shopping cart as you pass by. I'll bet there won't hardly be a single thing in their cart that doesn't look alien to you for one reason or another.
  
  

• Another thing that looks alien to me, believe it or not, are people's nails. Yeah I know... I'm weird, but so are everyones fingernails and toenails! No matter how many you look at, they all look so... Different. Size, shape, whatever. They all look alien.
  
  I don't know why I don't feel that way about any other features of a person's body. After all, no two are alike, but for some reason, nails have always caught my eye when they look different than mine.
  
  I'm sure other oddballs like myself feel the same way about my nails as I do about theirs. Especially my right thumbnail. Hell, that one even looks alien to me...
  
  

• Don't even get me started on vehicles. This falls into two categories: Weird that a particular style even sprung from the drawing board to begin with, and weird that someone would actually shell out their money to buy one at the risk of being seen driving it.
  
  Understand, these two things are not always the same either. Some weird vehicles look totally right with the proper variety of oddball inside them. Sometimes the a vehicle looks so alien it would look weird with anyone in it. As far as people go, there are some of them that... Well, no matter what they drive it would be hopeless. They look alien in anything.

You can just go on and on with this sort of topic. Everyone is weird. Everyone is unique. Everyone eats weird shit, does weird shit, owns weird shit, and says weird shit.

Yeah, when you compare us... We are all so... Alien

Closure?

I would like to believe so. Yes, believe it or not, I seem to have finally stopped the water leak in my Neon. Can you believe it?

As much effort and heartache as I've put into that damn thing over the last several months, it's about time. I should be able to stand on a hilltop and look into the sunset with a confident super-hero stance, cape gently flapping in the breeze, and say:

"My work here is done."

But alas... That's just one minor skirmish that has been won. In my life of substandard asset ownership (aka: making every dollar go as far as I can) I have many other battles that must be won.

And win them I must.

A Dark and Boring Evening

This time of year is such an emotional roller-coaster ride sometimes, you know? I think I'd like to blame it about 50-50 on the lack of daylight hours and the lack of heat.

I like heat. Probably more than daylight even. Heat to me means comfort and less (if any at all) clothing. Not everyone feels that way about warm temps like I do. The darkness I think is what takes a lot out of me. It makes me not want to go anywhere and makes me think about going to bed sometimes at 8pm or thereabouts. It's just weird.

Sarah's Christmas present showed up at work yesterday so that's one thing I don't have to worry about. I haven't opened it yet, but I will one of these days. If not just to make sure it works right, but also to load all the software she will need onto it. I also need to come up with a good picture to use as a desktop. I think it should have a Merry Christmas on it as well. I'll figure something out.

My own computer here has been giving me fits. I sensed that the main hard drive was failing. It's a 200-gig unit that has been residing as my C drive since I bought it a year or so ago. The old 120-gig hard drive that I did have as my C drive was moved to D-drive position at that time, taking up the position of "second fiddle." The other day I swapped em back, wiping the 120 clean and installing Windoze fresh. I had to be so careful moving files though because the "old" C drive (which is now D) is acting up so much. It would make a single click sound and the whole computer would lock up. After I swapped em to the way they are now and reloaded, it was still doing it. Yesterday I completely unhooked the problematic 200 from the system. So far no lockups. I have to hook it back up and get the rest of my files off it though. All in good time...

We still haven't gotten much rain since I sealed the Neon with 5 lbs. of silicone sealant the other day. We did get some the other night, but I don't know how much really because it was at night time and I was sleeping. No leak so far though. Yay!

The truck is another story. I went down and bought a new starter after work yesterday (I didn't trust the old one even though it seemed intact). I just know it was refusing to turn over last time I tried to start it. After I put the new one in, it did the same thing. Obviously there is a bad cable/connection issue in there somewhere.

True to Craigslist form, I keep getting people that respond to my ad and want my chin-up exercise thing. So far I've had 3 people in 3 days that "want it" but guess how many have shown up so far? Zip. Zero. Zilch. I've said it once, and I'll say it again: Craigslist is just too easy for people to speak up and say "Yo!" at the drop of a hat. Actually putting their shoes on and driving their car to another town and shelling out cash is truly another story.

I still don't have all the balls on my Christmas tree yet. I keep getting sidetracked and haven't sat down to put hooks in all of em yet. I have the top 25% of the tree finished so far. I looks pretty plain, but that's okay... It's just like my house. And me. We're all plain.

One bright spot is that I did manage to get some Thanksgiving leftovers. I haven't enjoyed them yet, but I plan to tomorrow. Teresa came over on Sunday to have me blow out her furnace filter and to help her order a video game console online for Sarah. I found a spot where she could order it with no tax and free shipping. She left me a bunch of stuff from their Thanksgiving meal. Pretty nice of her.

Well, I guess I'll get a shower and get ready for bed. Wow, I made it to 9 o'clock so far!

The Post-Black Friday Sunday Report

Well, here it is--The last day of the 4-day weekend.

I went out and got my tree the other day, and spent a little while putting it together to make sure it was all okay.

One thing led to another:

1. I decided to move the exercise stand I had next to my TV and put the tree there.
2. Before I moved it, I decided to take some pictures of it and put it up for sale on Craigslist.
3. After I did that, I took it apart (not totally--I left it in large pieces).
4. When the exercise thing was out of the room, I started running the vacuum around where it was.
5. That led me to vacuum the whole damn house, even switching over to the handheld vacuum for cobwebs.
6. After hours, I finally moved the new Christmas tree to its new home. A perfect fit!

That all took place on Friday after I came in from filling the leaky area of my Neon with silicone sealant to stop it's leak. Hopefully I got it all sealed up okay. I had to act that day because it was such a nice, sunny day.

Yesterday was spent indoors with the wood stove blazing. It was so cozy! I even went down the street to the corner and scooped up a bunch of pine needles that I put in a pan of water and have that sitting on top of the wood stove. It smells up the house nicely. Later on in the afternoon I went out and bought myself some balls to decorate the tree with. I still haven't put all that stuff on it yet, but at least it came with the lights already on it. I hate putting lights on a Christmas tree. Hate, hate, hate.

I already got one hit on the exercise thing. Hopefully I'll get that sold and out of my way. I'm tired of looking at it.

I spent a couple hours yesterday tearing Sarah's digital camera all apart, hoping to find just a dirty circuit board contact under the buttons or something, but alas... It appears to be history. It recently lost almost all it's functions. Hardly any of the buttons do anything any more. Time for a new one I guess. Maybe her mom can put that on her Christmas list.

Well, I'm going to go get a shower and go pick Sarah up. We're going to Bed Bath & Beyond so I can get a little food chopper (hand-smackin' variety) and then we'll do a walk around the mall while we're there.

Thanksgiving: A Day of Socializing

It was a pretty good day. I wasn't really surprised about that, but I was relieved.

I spent some time in my kitchen before going over to my parents' house. I had an idea for an oyster/bacon appetizer, remember? Well... They didn't quite go according to plan. I failed to consider (I really didn't know) the fact that oysters in a can are very soft. When I poured them into a bowl of wine, garlic, and pepper, they pretty much fell apart when I stirred it around. Still, I made the best of it. Because of that, I decided I'd batter do a backup plan and decided to make some baked garlic/rosemary carrots to take along. When I started to go through my carrots (which I had in the garage to keep them cool) I found that one of the 3 bags was totally rotten, and the other two bags had to be gone over and bad ones weeded out. When I put those into the oven I started working on the appetizers. I managed to get enough of them wrapped to use up the 12-oz. pack of bacon, but because I had the oven in use I couldn't broil them the way the recipe stated. Instead, I pan-fried them. I must say--They were damn tasty! Sarah and Teresa were out shopping, and while I waited for her to drop Sarah off at my house I kept nibbling... I ate over half of them! The carrots came out flawless. I took the remainder of the oyster nibblies, the bowl of carrots, a platter of cheese and crackers, and two 6-packs of the hard apple cider I mentioned yesterday.

I was surprised to find that everybody was there yesterday--Even my sister and her husband that live out in Port Orchard. Everyone was in good spirits and got along great. Everyone that wasn't afraid of the oysters and did try them loved them. Even my mom approached one with trepidation and gave the "hmm... pretty good". The apple cider was a big hit too. People that didn't normally drink much if any were into their second before long. Basically, all the stuff I took went over well, and everything that was there from everyone else was great too. My old man wasn't too tough to take either. The only time his colors shined was when Sarah and I were ready to leave. I went out to the back porch to get the bag with the two apple cider six-packs in it. I came into the kitchen (we go out their front door when we leave) and put it up on the counter, looking through it to see if any of the bottles were still full.
"Looks like all but one got drank," I said.
"You can leave the rest of it here, we've got lots of room in the recycle bin," my mom volunteered.
My dad leaned over. "What this?" he asked, looking into the bag.
"What's left of the cider. All empty but one," I explained.
Again, my mom pipes up, "Just leave em here, we can throw them away."
Then my dad turns into his usual self, and says, "I don't want to take them clear out there." (Their recycle bin is all of maybe 25 or 30 feet away just outside the fence of their small back yard.)
"I'll take them with me," I said, closing the conversation.

See what I mean?

Anyway, from there I took Sarah home. When we pulled into the driveway I saw that the house was dark. "Where's mom?" I asked her.
"At Noelle's."

I asked her if she wanted me to take her over there, knowing that she doesn't like to be in the house by herself if she can help it. She called Teresa on the phone and said that would be good. While I was there I took the rest of my carrots in and put them into their fridge. Sarah loves them and Teresa liked em too. It's best if they get eaten and it's probably more than I could have eaten by myself anyway.

We went over to Kurt and Noelle's house, which is right across the street from the house we used to own a few years back. It still feels kind of like our old neighborhood. I was just going to go in and drink my last apple cider with them but I ended up staying most of the evening. They're great people and I like spending time with them. The visit there was a great way to cap off a pretty good day.

Now it's Black Friday! I don't feel like fighting any crowds, but I may venture out and buy a loss-leader Christmas tree for my place this morning. We'll see.

Happy Thanksgiving!

At this point in the day it's just any other day, but I'm hoping it will be a good day. I always hope that the day with the family will be a good one and it usually is. If it's not, it's only due to the actions of my dad. I totally love spending time with everyone else in the family. As a matter of fact, Thanksgiving used to be my favorite holiday--Even above Christmas!

I was amused by a comic I read yesterday that kinda hit home (click on it if you want to see it full size):

I'm going to make some garlic-roasted carrots to take along, and also some appetizers. For the appetizers I'm making bacon-wrapped water chestnuts (those are baked... toothpick holding them together), and something called "Angels on Horseback." They are essentially oysters that are marinaded in wine, pepper, and garlic, then wrapped with bacon and broiled on both sides until crispy looking. I think they'll be interesting.

In addition I'm taking booze of course. This year I'm taking two 6-packs of Hornsby's Hard Apple Cider. I had some at Teresa's house a while back (I think I mentioned it) and recently bought some myself. I drank 3 bottles the other night after work and they definitely pack a good little buzz. Pretty good stuff. I figure 2 sixers will allow enough for others to try out as well. Pretty sad when you feel you need booze to put up with one of your parental units isn't it?

I've been working overtime for the last 6 work days. I was a little miffed at first, but the time went by quickly, and I found it fairly easy to do once I got my head used to it. I worked the special assembly project (gluing foam onto parts) with Elaine for the first 4 days of my overtime stretch, and because of that my normal job inbox grew by leaps and bounds. That's what I've been working on during the last two days. It will help me cover the new laptop for Sarah that I just ordered from Dell. Not to mention the fact that utility bills are always higher during these months. At any rate, overtime certainly can't hurt.

Well, to those who read me, I hope you have a very happy Thanksgiving!

Being the Nice Guy... That's Me

You know me--I can never say no.

After I got home from my grocery shopping yesterday it felt pretty good to be inside and warm on such a nasty day and doing my chores in the nude.

Then Teresa called. "The skylight over the dining room table is leaking. We came home and there is a puddle on the dining room table and the drywall is all wet. What should I do?" I could hear the "frantic" in her voice.

We discussed it for a bit, and I suggested she go downstairs and get the stepladder so she could get a better look. While she did that, I talked with Sarah for a little bit. When she scooted the dining room table out of the way and climbed up on the ladder (the skylight is recessed about a foot and a half up into the ceiling) she got back on the phone.

"The drywall is all soft and wet and I can just push through it," she said. "What would cause that?"
"Duh," I said, "The water leak of course. Drywall is just basically pressed dust. When it gets wet it disintegrates."

We talked about it for a bit longer and discussed the condition of the roof (which is not good) and various ways to seal the leak, etc. I told her that somewhere in her house was a gallon of wet/dry roof patch that I used on our old house one day when the flashing around the range hood roof vent failed in a rainstorm. It's the kind of stuff that's designed to go on whether or not the affected area is dry or not. After much looking in the basement and garage, she finally found it. I told her when my laundry load was finally done and in the dryer I'd come over and have a look. I told her in the meantime to pull Sarah's car out and get the giant ladder out of the garage so it was ready when I got there.

Grudgingly, I got dressed and went over. At least the rain had stopped for a while. We went up on the roof with the roof patch stuff. Normally, she would never go up on the roof because she is afraid of heights, but since our divorce any time I have worked on/repaired anything there she is looking over my shoulder. Good for her.

Her roof is the low slope variety that they call a "torch down" roof. Originally they are made of hot tar over a membrane of some kind, and then they put gravel or some sort of rock on top afterward for protection. Her roof is pretty old and the rock is long gone. It has been painted routinely by the previous owner using that aluminum-colored paint stuff, but that's just "getting by" instead of doing what really should be done, which is replacing the roof. Besides, that silver stuff makes it look like a mobile home. Anyway, with that low type of roof all the skylights are raised up somewhat. I think each of them was about 6 or 8 inches high off the roof. In other words, they are mounted on a sort of a frame instead of mounted flush. It appears that the failure spot on the affected skylight was actually the rubber seal of the glass itself and not the frame, so I got some rubber gloves from her and carefully smeared that black goo around each of the 3 skylights on her roof. Even though only one of them was leaking, it the others didn't look all that great either, so what the hell.

As far as the drywall goes, I doubt if that will ever get fixed. I just hope we stopped the leak.

Freezers and Food

Let's start with the freezer. You know... Those square things that are supposed to keep all your hoarded food cold?

I was on my way out to go shopping this morning. I wanted to go early to beat the mass of weekend shoppers--Especially with this being this weekend before Thanksgiving.

But I digress...

Before I went to the store I wanted to start a load of laundry so it would be ready for the dryer by the time I got back home. When I went out to the garage and got the washer all set up, I pulled the knob out to start it and got nothing. Hmm. Just to make sure I was in a "good spot" on the timer, I spun it all the way around and tried it again.

Nothing.

I looked at the outlet. Yep, it was plugged in. Then it occurred to me that the garage freezer was on the same circuit. "Nooo.... " a voice inside my head cried, with the sudden realization that I had used that outlet last weekend when I had the shop vac and chop saw both going and I was cutting my firewood up.

But it was true.

I opened the freezer and it was cool. Not cold--Cool. I felt around, noting the condition of the various foods that were in it. Apparently it was only now getting to the total thaw point because there was still some "frozen" in the center of some of the things that are normally soft. I went over to the circuit breaker panel and saw that the breaker had tripped. I flipped it back and heard the hum as the freezer kicked on. Even had I not decided to wash clothes I still would have found it out though because I always look in there to see how much bread I have left before I go shopping.

Most of what was in there was stuff like breads, french fries, and pot pies (Marie Callender's of course), although there were a few cuts of meat and some Tilapia filets too. I'm not worried about the fish because they are all vac-packed at the factory. The pot pies and the fries... I figure not much to go wrong there. The steak and package of ground beef I think I'll chuck out though... I don't trust em. The two whole chickens that are in there are still mostly frozen so I'll play the odds and leave em be too.

The funny thing is, the breaker never popped when I was using it last Saturday. At no time did I ever lose power on anything I was using at the time. I must have popped some time between now and then or the freezer would have been even warmer than it was I'm sure. I need to watch it like a hawk I guess to make sure it's okay.

The main reason I wanted to go to Winco Foods today was that they always have a special deal going before Thanksgiving. If you spend $50 or more, your frozen whole turkey is half their sale price, which is already cheap. For example, my 14-lb. turkey today cost me a whopping $3.02. You can't hardly beat 22 cents a lb can ya? I will never get any "post-Thanksgiving turkey unless I cook one myself. My selfish asshole of a father won't let my mom send any leftovers home with any of us so she doesn't even volunteer it. Who knows, I may go back and buy another turkey before it expires. If nothing else, I can just buy a few cases of beer to make the $50 minimum.

Anyway... The bottom line is don't assume that your "reserve" freezer is working. It pays to check up on things from time to time. Don't let "Out of sight-Out of mind" ruin your day. Or your pantry stores.

A Week of Easy Overtime

It's overtime, true... But it's fairly pleasurable work. To me anyway. It's definitely not for everybody though.

I've been on a priority job shift at work. While my regular job is "on hold" and the inbox is piling up I've been put on a special project. Myself and Elaine are the only two people there that seem to have what it takes to do this job because it's very, very tedious and yet requires a the utmost attention to detail. We've been gluing 1/8" foam onto parts. At the risk of going into too much detail, imagine an aluminum suitcase about one foot high, one foot deep, and 1.5 foot wide. Inside are all kinds of little compartments and areas to hold tools or equipment captive while in transit. Our company buys the boxes, but we make all the stuff for the inside. After all that, Elaine and I build them. When they are finished they are works of art, but boy are they tedious. As I said before though, we're working in a nice, comfortable environment that's warm and quiet. Every day when I get off work my fingers are covered with glue residue. I feel like a poster boy for an eczema commercial.

I'm just about to the Boeing application process. I've pretty much finished my resume online but haven't submitted it yet. I just got an email from Steve yesterday that said he had talked to one of my coworkers and told him I was thinking of coming back. He said, "Yes, we need planners badly! Tell him to call John!" and gave Steve the boss's phone number to give me. John was my boss when I was there too, and probably still remembers me. It's sounding better and better.

Boeing is a company that gives their employees about 2 weeks off over the Christmas holidays every year, and according to Steve, they cut off employment from now until the first of the year so they won't get someone hired on and immediately give them 2 weeks off with pay. Makes sense.

I just know that things sure seems different where I work now than back in May of 2002 when I was first hired on. Everything seems to have gone "loose" and is disconnected. The owners (brothers, remember?) run pretty much the whole show, but Phil (he's the one that runs the shop aspect of the company) seems to be losing his grasp. I think the company has gotten to big for him to handle. Everything is always in a disarray and things are constantly "falling through the cracks" and not getting done or done correctly. There needs to be real change made around there, but I don't see it ever happening. They are both getting up in years, and frankly, I don't see a future for the company. There is no "new blood" being groomed at the top. There has never been any sign of any successors or heirs to ever take over the company. If either Phil or Bernie ever strokes out it's all over.

I like to work efficiently and I like to see plans and guidelines and criteria. There seems to be none existing any more there. There is no redundancy there. For example, there is only one guy there that writes purchae order's. If we need something shipped or bought or whatever, we have to wait for him. His schedule. Hardly any of the computers in the company are networked. One or two are on the internet, one is hooked to the PO printer, etc... You get the idea. It's just a sad state in today's world. They actually print their house orders (that's the what we call our manufacturing plans) using Microsoft Word instead of using dedicated software. Poor Sue up at the front desk uses Windows 3.1 on her computer! I kid you not.

See what I mean? Time to move on. It's been a good run and I've learned a lot about the manufacturing business. It should serve me well at Boeing.

The Sunday Sicklies

That's what I had I guess--I was in bad shape all day yesterday. I think I had the flu.

I woke up yesterday morning with a splitting headache. I mean a bad one. I wasn't even going to wait to see if the caffeine in my coffee had any effect on it--I smacked it with Excedrin right off the bat. Even that didn't kill it completely.

I did my blog post yesterday during my coffee, but I barely got my coffee down and my stomach decided it was going to jump into the fray. I never "lost" anything, but I did have to go lie down for a while. It was during that time under the covers that I noticed I was getting colder. After an hour or so I got up, intending to do some daily chores. Sarah called and wanted to come over and borrow my laptop while I have hers here overhauling it. I was still in my robe at that point, so I reluctantly got dressed, not wanting to look like the derelict I felt like. She and Teresa came over and were here for a few minutes while we got everything together. After they left I put my robe back on.

Over my clothes.

I was still freezing, and in the back of my mind my headache was still there. It was making just enough of itself known that I wouldn't forget about it. I decided at that point that I would try a little grown-up medicine. Five or six vodka/cranberry's later it seemed to be working well. Although I was still cold, I felt good enough to cook dinner. After I wolfed a baked potato, a whole can of green beans, and 3 pieces of pan-fried Tilapia, I felt pretty good. Trouble is, couple all those drinks and all that food and what do you get?

Tired, that's what.

I lay down on my bed and dozed for a couple hours. When I got up it was only an hour or so until bedtime, but I noticed my chills had pretty much subsided. I was beginning to think that last night would have to be the first time in years I might have to wear something under the covers, but by bedtime I seemed fine.

Now this morning it's like it never happened.

Security: My Fortress Mentality

Remember when you were a kid and played "fort"?

Sometimes it was a nasty day and you were in the comfort of your house. Carefully arranging chairs or other furniture and draping a blanket or something over them to create an enclosure of sorts. Sometimes it might be just playing in a corner or behind something where there wasn't a lot of space.

Outside was a little different. The enclosures were totally different, but they were "forts" nonetheless. Growing up in the rural town of Algona just to the south of me here, we had a lot of space to play. One of my favorite times was in the middle of summer when everything was dry, including the deep drainage ditches that bordered all the roads in the town. They were all lined with tall grass that created a nice carpet when it was matted down. We'd place boards (or whatever else was handy) across the span, creating a nice, cozy space underneath. Just the tall grasses would even make a nice fort out in the middle of a field if you matted them down in a nice round pattern, creating walls of the still-standing grass. The endless mounds of blackberry bushes that grew wild in the area also created an interesting fortress. Although blackberry bushes were tall and rounded clumps of thorny vines covered with leaves on the outside, the underneath was a dark, hollow space with no vegetation. All that was under them was the thick, woody vine stalks with lots of space to walk or crawl around through if you were careful.

I guess it's something about having a space--A space that's yours and nobody else's. A space where you feel secure, whether it's real or imagined.

I get the same feelings when I do some things nowadays, but they're variations on that theme. Now I get the same feeling when I have all my stuff gathered into my space. For example, when I moved in here--When I finally had all my stuff moved inside my walls and the doors were closed and locked I felt the feeling again. Ahh... Security. Now I could do all the stuff I wanted and spread my stuff all around because I was safely within my walls. Nobody could mess with my stuff. I get another variation of the feeling when I stand behind my screened windows in the summertime--Mentally thumbing my nose at the bugs, cats, and other wandering critters--Knowing myself and my stuff is safe within my boundaries.

Where am I going with this?

Yesterday I felt the same feeling after I spent a couple hours out in the garage cutting up my firewood. After I moved it all into the living room and saw this (you can click it for a full size pic):


Maybe it's that "hoarding for winter" mentality this time, I don't know. I just know I felt the same feeling of security when I had this pile of wood in my living room.

I guess this time I'm thumbing my nose at winter.

I Need a Change

I'm not sure exactly, but I think it's mostly my job. I need something else.

I say I'm not sure because I really haven't put my finger on the source of my discontent. Maybe it's not my job--Maybe I need to move... I don't know. It's just that lately I feel like everything is wrong somehow. Nothing seems to be clicking. I've pointed an angry finger on more than one occasion recently at all three of my vehicles, like they're letting me down.

What if I'm just letting myself down?

When it comes to my job, I have to suffer the slings and arrows of my lack of education. I made my bed, now I have to lie in it. I'm not one of those rapid-fire job changers that has a resume' that's multiple pages long--I like to stick with a job. I like the feeling of loyalty to an employer. When you are just a basic "jack of all trades" as I am, you will never earn a lot of money unless you do stick with an employer through thick and thin.

Unless you work at Boeing.

I have to admit, I was online looking at their jobs last night. They have a lot of openings and I could easily get hired on there. Do I really want to? I hate the unknowns that come with working for Boeing. How long will your job last is the big one. Will your job move you to another area to work at some point down the road? If I didn't like it much back then, why would now be any different?

Because Boeing gives you vacation time off and sick days, that's why. And regular raises and good insurance and lots of other bennies.

I think what's really bugging me lately though about my job is the lack of time off. I'm not talking the opposite of overtime--I work the usual 8 hour days and get my weekends off. I'm talking about vacation time. I have worked there for well over 5 years and still only have one week of vacation. You know what you want to do when you have only one week of vacation? You want to put it under a glass case or mount it on a plaque on the wall. In other words--Not use it. It's just not enough to be flexible with. One teeny little vacation wipes you out for an entire year. Your friends might go on a Harley event someplace, but you can't go because your vacation is in "in case of emergency, break glass" storage area. You are afraid to waste it, and that just makes it eat at you all the more.

My supervisor said to me once that at La Croix Industries vacation is a "negotiated" thing. Being a merit shop, nobody gets things automatically--They have to earn them. You know what? I shouldn't have to negotiate vacation. I haven't missed an unscheduled day of work since I've been there, and the 2 or 3 times I've been late for work in 5 ½ years have all been no more than one or two minutes.

I'm just disgruntled. Maybe it's my job--Maybe not. All I know is, I need a change. I wish someone could tell me what it is...

Okay, okay... So it's Monday...

...And I haven't posted anything since Friday. Obviously, my weekend wasn't anything much to write about or I would probably already done so. It wasn't a bad weekend, just a "dum dee dum" weekend.

My Friday night was so special I really don't remember a single thing about it. For the life of me, I can't even remember what the hell I ate for dinner that night even. Obviously, it was not a newsworthy evening.

When I finally got up and around on Saturday morning, I was just leaving to go over to the store to get some beer so it would be cold by beer drinking time when Steve rode up on his new Harley. It was sweet! The model is a Street Glide, and it's very nice. It had all the smells of something that still isn't used to getting hot--The paint, the metal--All were emitting that "new bike" smell. Well, I'm only assuming that because I've never owned a new bike... After visiting with him for a while, he left and I continued to the store to get my beer, which was needed because I planned on spending the rest of my day out in the garage/driveway putting the steering column back into my truck. During the time I was out there, my friend Greg drove up, showing off the new tires he had just had put on his Scion. He's the kind of guy that totally loves doing garage work, and he ended up out there working with me the whole rest of the day.

I put the steering column in (containing the new ignition switch) and the original "no start" problem was still there. At that point, we took the distributor out and dissected it, testing things as we went. One part of it was "iffy" so I opted to replace that portion of it. After we went downtown and bought the replacement portion, we bench-tested it with a battery. When we spun it by hand we got a nice hot blue spark. After putting it back in the truck we got nothing. Weird. About the time we were playing with it, something else gave up and no power was going to the starter any more. Needless to say, it was a good day even though the truck still isn't any better. Everything we did went without a hitch and the weather was fantastic.

Yesterday was an indoor day. It started out by setting clocks back from daylight savings time, then Sarah coming over to do homework. At least she's got good options for doing homework--Some kids probably don't even have computers... Even in this day and age. Anyway, while she was doing that I was doing laundry and washing dishes and stuff. At about noon I took her back home (her mom had dropped her off that morning on the way to do some shopping or something). The rest of the day was just a putzing around day... Cleaning and computer stuff. Right before the sun went down, I went out and took the starter out of my truck and tore into it on the bench. Eventually I'll get to the bottom of what ails that goddamned truck...

That was my weekend.

One additional thing I will talk about though concerns my strange sleep pattern of last week. For some reason I woke every day of the week at 2am give or take 10 minutes. I swear it was that regular. It started a week ago on Sunday night/Monday morning. Each of the days of the week the exact same thing. Once or twice I heard a car running outside, but not each of the days, so I doubt if there was something that woke me up each night. If there was, it was quick and I never knew what it was.

The trouble was that every single day of the week that it happened, and I mean every single time it happened I never did get back to sleep. What that boils down to is this: I go to bed at 10pm, wake up at 2am, and get up at 4am. That's not a lot of sleep. I noticed Friday night's sleep was marginally better, but I still woke up at that time. The only difference was that I was able to just stay in bed because it was Saturday morning, so although I never really got back to sleep, I still was able to get enough rest before getting up. Saturday night was better, and last night was back to a full night's sleep again.

I've noticed something about me and my body: For some reason, when I get something that's bothering me or ailing me, I always seem to have it for 5-6 days. Whether it's a headache or whatever--5-6 days.

Isn't that weird?

Keeping Up With The Joneses

I'm talking about my best friend Steve. He just can't stand it when someone has something better or newer than he does, but unlike most people that you hear about that do that sort of thing, he doesn't do it to brag. Okay, he does like to play "show & tell" when he gets something new, but who doesn't?

No, with him it's more of a feeling of restlessness--A feeling of sudden dissatisfaction with something he currently owns. He's very impulsive and because of that, tends to be fickle and lose interest in things quickly too. I am that way sometimes myself--I just don't have money to play with like he does.

A good example: When he came over and first saw my mannequin dressed in her biker garb, he thought that was just too cool, and he's been searching for one ever since. It will have to happen because he can't really rest until he fills his "shopping list."

Anyway, the whole reason for this post today? He bought a new Harley! His other one is new by my standards--He just bought it in 2005 and there isn't a bug or a speck of dirt on it anywhere. It's not like he doesn't ride it either... He has put a respectable number of miles on it. It's a beautiful bike, no question about it.

So what prompted him to buy a new one? Two of his coworkers/riding buddies each bought new ones. One of them had a Yamaha something or other and recently bought a new Harley with all the options and bells & whistles on it. He's a guy that is so "plugged in" (literally) to his bike that it takes him 5 minutes to hook/unhook every time we stop or start a ride. He has on board cameras, GPS... You name it. Another coworker/fellow rider traded in his bike that's almost like Steve's and also ended up with a model of Electra Glide. It seems more and more folks are dumping the Softail models and going to the 'Glides. I would like one myself, but that's another story.

So the other night Steve popped up in a chat window and told me he was putting his bike up for sale and was going to buy a new 'Glide. He told me the whole story and sent me a link to the sale ad for his bike. He also sent me a link to a picture of the bike he was getting. Pretty nice... Complete with ABS brakes even! At the time he was chatting to with me about it, somebody was already calling him about it. The guy identifies himself as Scott somebody from Eastside Harley-Davidson, and he offers Steve $12,500 for his bike right then and there (Steve had his Harley on Craigslist for $13,995).
"Hey, when I rode it down there last week, you only offered me $12,000. If it's going to keep going up every week I'll hold out for another couple weeks!" Steve says.
"Oh, you were here and I looked at it already? Hang on, let me check something," he says while he puts Steve on hold. He came back on the phone and says, "I'll tell you what--You buy the bike you were looking at right now and I'll give you $13,500 for yours."

Steve said he gave the guy his Visa card number and told him to hang a 'SOLD' sign on that new one. He always has moved fast when it came to buying and selling and "horse-trading."

He paid about $16,500 for it when he bought it, and I know he's well over $20,000 with all the stuff he's bought and had done to it.

But like Rhon said... It's his money!